DETROIT -- Jesse Eisenberg left Grand Rapids last week --- and that makes him a bit anxious.

"I'm always nervous moving to a new place, and then there's a period where I'm nervous to leave that place," he said. "I'm kind of homesick for Grand Rapids."

The soft-spoken actor spent more than two months in West Michigan, filming the action-comedy "30 Minutes or Less" with director Ruben Fleischer and co-stars Aziz Ansari, Danny McBride, Nick Swardson and Michael Pena. Shooting wrapped Sept. 10, allowing the 26-year-old star of "Zombieland," "The Squid and the Whale" and "Adventureland" to jet to Los Angeles to attend Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards and return to Michigan Wednesday to promote "The Social Network." He plays Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in the film, which opens Oct. 1.

Eisenberg hangs his legs over the arm of a leather chair in a suite at the MGM Grand Hotel in Detroit, speaking fondly of his temporary stay in Grand Rapids. He rented a home in Kentwood for the shoot and visited as far north as Leland when filming took him to Ludington.

"It seems like there's so much happening (in Grand Rapids)," he said. "I went to a Whitecaps game and visited (Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park) for the Chihuly glass exhibit."

But he spent most of his time playing a pizza delivery man with a bomb strapped to his chest for "30 Minutes," in which he teamed up with "Zombieland" director Fleischer for a second time. Swardson and McBride play two-bit thieves who force Eisenberg's character to rob a bank in less then 30 minutes, or the explosives will kill him.

The Columbia Pictures production shut down several blocks of South Division Avenue in August to film car-chase sequences. Its many Grand Rapids locations included spots on Wealthy Street and in a Walker neighborhood. Scenes also were filmed on the roof of the Brass Works Building on Monroe Avenue and on the Sixth Street bridge.

Whether the film turns out well, Eisenberg will never know -- he prefers not to watch himself in movies. But the positive vibe on set has him thinking positively.

"I think it'll be really good, but it's hard to tell, because you're so immersed in it when you're acting in it, so who knows how it'll turn out," he said. "The director is wonderful -- he has the perfect sense of something that's funny and specific and real, and also the broad story."

Eisenberg has developed a solid working relationship with Fleischer, and they're already considering a "Zombieland" sequel.

"It's an unspoken chemistry," Eisenberg said. "I know what he likes, and it happens to coincide with what I like for the most part. ... He has a very specific interest, and it coincides with mine, which is to play something as naturally as possible, and then, if need be, for the storyline, heighten (the performance) for entertainment purposes."

He also spoke highly of his fellow cast members, who got the chance to break out of their usual acting styles for "30 Minutes," which is scheduled for an August 2011 national release.

"Michael Pena, who's a great dramatic actor, he played a very broad, comedic character," Eisenberg said. "And Aziz Ansari, who's primarily a stand-up comedian, is playing a character with a lot of dramatic scenes. That was a really interesting dynamic. And Danny McBride and Nick Swardson play these small-time criminals, and they also are supposed to be very intimidating and scary, but of course, those two actors are really funny. Danny has a way of being so scary, but it seems sweet at the same time, so his character is almost sympathetic."